I'm a Mess
by harrypotterlover0112
Summary: It is about five years after the defeat of Voldemort. Hermione and Draco work in the same office, but until now, have been doing a good job of avoiding each other. They are put on a time consuming project together which ultimately requires them to never be apart. What happens when the two attend parties together and they find the other is not so bad after all.
1. The New Partner

**Hey guys! So obviously I don't own any of the characters or anything in this or anything from Harry Potter. **

**This is my first fanfiction in a while so i really hope I do a good job! **

**Just some background...**

It is five years after the defeat of Voldemort, and the wizarding world is finally at peace. Many of the students of Hogwarts who were supposed to graduate the year of the war were offered the chance to retake the year. Few did, seeing as most of them felt they had learned quite enough to survive already. Among those who did were Neville Longbottom, Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Luna Lovegood and of course, Hermione Granger. However, Harry and Ron had gone on to working in the ministry as aurors instead of returning to school.

Now however, a new round of students were attending Hogwarts and those who moved on chose a lifestyle to live by. Neville Longbottom became a herbology teacher at Hogwarts, taking the place of professor Sprout. Blaise Zabini, along with Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, became ministry workers. And finally, Luna Lovegood became a journalist.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz

"Ugh! Stupid alarm!" Hermione mumbled angrily as she hit the off button and promptly sat up in her bed. While rubbing her eyes, she thought 'another day of work, at least its Friday". She then stumbled into her bathroom wearily.

Hermione lived in a small flat just outside of the town from the ministry. It was a good size, or at least she thought so, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, two bathrooms, and a terrace. She quite admired her choice, because of both location and look. The other upside to her flat was that she had direct floo network to both work and her friends and family's houses.

Hermione turned on the shower and stepped in. "Its only 6:00 I have time to relax a bit' she said to herself as she was washing her hair. Twenty minutes later, which is quite a bit longer than she normally takes, she rapped a towel around herself and stepped out, turning the shower off in the process. She brushed her now tamed hair, thanks to a handy spell, and walked out of the bathroom only to find a man in her room.

"Bloody hell!" She screamed as she saw Harry walking around her room, only to see him turn around, blush at the sight of her in a towel and walk steadily out of the room. "Harry what in merlins beard are you doing here so early?"

"Sorry 'Mione! Ginny just sent me here to invite you to dinner tonight." He yelled through the door. Harry and Ginny were engaged, and planning to be engaged for a ling period of time. They had officially moved in together and Ginny pretty much called all the shots.

"She's actually home?" Hermione asked. Ginny was a professional Quidditch player and was hardly ever home for dinner.

"Yea they have a week off." Harry replied gratefully, yet there was an odd strain in his voice.

"What's going on? She asked as she opened the door and motioned him towards the kitchen. "Why are you acting so weird?"

"Well..." He paused, backing up a few steps and putting his hands in the air. "Ron is coming." Hermione and Ron were still friends but after they dated for a while, things started to go south. Ron was way to controlling for her and jealous. Eventually, Hermione felt the need to end it, which resulted in Ron not talking to her long enough to find a new girl, Lavender Brown. Even so, Hermione and Ron were fine, so she was confused by Harry's worry. "And he is bringing Lavender" oh, there it was, it all made sense now. Although Hermione was no longer jealous of Lavender, she still, for a lack of a better term, hated her guts.

"Well as long as she keeps her nose out of my business, I don't think it will be a problem." Harry sighed with relief, and Hermione knew it was because he wasn't a huge fan of Lavender either. "What time?"

"Thanks 'Mione, you are the best. " he kissed her cheek then added "around 7"

"Okay see you there. I'd love to talk but i have to go to work." She said, packing her bag and grabbing a coffee.

"How is it going over there by the way? In the law enforcement department? Are you still working that case with Zabini?" He asked while escorting her to the fireplace.

"No we just finished that one. Its a shame really, he was wonderful to work with. I should be getting a new case today, but i really have to go we can talk about this later, stay as long as you want, bye!" And with that, she stepped in the fireplace, grabbed the floo powder and said "ministry of magic, Hermione Granger's office"

Although she played if off like this dinner was no big deal, she was actually really worried. She couldn't stand Lavender and she really wasn't sure if she could be in her presence without hexing her. She also didn't particularly like the idea of being the only single party. She was still going to go of course, she had already promised Harry. Plus the fact that she was not going to let such childish things influence her decisions.

When she walked up to her desk she found a file, which she assumed to be her new case, with a note scribbled on top.

**Ms. Granger,**

**Sorry for the unprofessional note, but i had to rush over to a client. Your next case is in the file underneath. I would like to warn you it is very serious and extremely confidential. You are going to have to work closely with the Minister and your new partner. Your partner as well as the case information is all in the file. **

**Hope you enjoy,**

**Ben.**

She automatically got excited. Her job was a mixture of many things, but working alongside the Minister was a new thing for her. She was anxious to see her new partner, but she was also secretly dreading the amount of sleep she was about to lose.

"Hey Hermione" called Blaise from her doorway.

"Blaise, hey how are you?"

"Good and you?"

"Good. Ben just assigned me a new case" she was secretly hoping that Blaise would say he also received one so that they were working together again.

"That's great. Are you working this one alone?" And with that question, her hopes dropped.

"No I'm working with..." Her voice trailed off as she opened and read the file. She sighed in disappointment. "Malfoy" she stated bitterly. She was doing so well to mot end up working with him.

"He's not that bad" Blaise chuckled. "I'm pretty close with him actually." He winked at her. Hermione had told Blaise she was looking for someone and her told her that he could find her something. He was joking, but now it was their inside joke.

"Talking about me are you?" Came a steely, arrogant voice that could only belong to Draco Malfoy.

"Actually yes" Blaise chuckled as he saw Hermione's nose wrinkle at Draco's arrogance. "You and Hermione are working on a case together."

"Are we?" He voice suddenly lost all malice and his eyebrows shot up. "Well this should be interesting."

Please give me as much feedback as possible thanks!


	2. The Decision

Hermione found herself staring at Draco, for the pure reason that she could not read his tone of voice or his emotions. She watched as him and Blaise had a conversation and she saw how his eyes softened significantly while doing so.

"Granger, whose office do you want to use?" And suddenly his eyes were stone cold, and unreadable as he looked at her. 'Damn he's good at that' she thought to herself before answering

"I would prefer mine, of you don't mind." She said politely.

"I will go get my copy of the file then." He said almost harshly. And Blaise clapped loudly, bringing Hermione's attention to him.

"See there! You two are practically best mates!" He said excitedly. And Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Please, Granger and I will never be mates Zabini." Draco said slipping back into the office with the file in hand.

"You just had to go ruin a perfectly good moment didn't you?" Blaise complained shaking his head. He threw his hands in the air, and walked out of the room, leaving the two ex-enemies staring at each other.

There was an uncomfortable silence and finally Hermione looked up, only to find Draco reading the file silently to himself. She didn't want to interrupt his train of thought, so she opened her own file, skimming it and jotting down notes. When she was done she found that he was still reading, and therefore she sat there trying to pass the time. She eventually couldn't help herself, and she started to stare at him once again.

She wasn't staring dreamily or even absentmindedly. She was staring for a purpose, she wanted to be able to read him. After the war, they both were part of a small group of students who came back to retake their last year at Hogwarts. Although they never spoke, there was an understood alliance. After the Malfoy's switched sides during the war, many tolerated them a bit more. Hermione had also wanted to tell him how surprised and impressed she was by their decision, but she could never get herself to. Call it her pride, or her past prejudice against him, she could not get herself to talk to him without seeing that boy from first year.

"Granger, like what you see?" Malfoy asked smirking broadly. 'And theres the old Slytherin arse I know' she thought to herself.

"Not really. " she answered shortly, and then started to ramble off about the case. "So this is a really big case to be assigned."

"Yes, it is."

"So as far as I understand it, we are interrogating both free former death eaters and those who are in Azkaban."

"Correct Granger. I took so long reading it, as you saw," he smirked again. "Because I was trying to understand what the purpose was. What I got was that there is multiple cases of muggle women being raped, and the way they are describing the experience has to be magical." Hermione was shocked that Draco had said the term muggle so nonchalantly.

"Is this going to be hard for you to investigate?" She didn't mean to say it, it just came flying out of her mouth. "I just mean-"

"You mean because I was one, a death eater i mean." He said simply, and she nodded. "Well if you remember correctly Granger, I switched sides." He said forcefully. "So to answer your ignorant question, no it will not be a problem."

"Do not call me ignorant!" She stood behind her desk. "I simply ask because they know you, and vice versa." She then realized standing was doing nothing, and sat back down. "I was asking whether it would be a conflict of interest."

"Well I doubt it because Ben knows better than to put me on a case if it would be a conflict of interest." And with that, Hermione nodded knowing he was right.

"Well then, I think we should go talk to the Minister."

"Look at that, something we agree on." He said dryly. The two of them got up and walked out of the office, heading towards the Minister's office.

They arrived rather quickly and then waited in the waiting room, seeing as he was busy with other people. They sat in silence again, but this time it was a comfortable one. She wondered what was going through his head, and vice versa. This time however, she let her mind drift off about the dinner that night instead of staring at him. Little did she know, it was his turn to stare.

As Draco sat next to her, he realized he never really truly looked at her. When he did, he realized she was not the same bookworm from school, but a young lady with a head on her shoulders. Although he could admit to himself that he no longer had any hate for her, he would never say it out loud. He didn't know why, but for some reason he couldn't talk to her without going back to his old ways.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, I am very sorry to keep you waiting." The words of the mayor broke Draco out of his trance as well as Hermione. They both rose and shook his hand.

"Minister" Draco greeted as he shook his hand.

"Please, call me Kingsley." He smiled broadly. Kingsley Shacklebolt became Minister after the end of the war and has remained. "Hermione, delighted to see you."

"You as well Kingsley." Hermione said politely, and Kingsley escorted them into his office. They all took their seats, and after offering them some beverage, Kingsley got down to business.

"Quite an odd pairing that Ben has chosen for this task, quite an odd pairing indeed." He paused, eyeing the two in front of him. "Well regardless, you two were chosen for this task because your boss thinks you are the best two people he has." The two both smiled slightly at the compliment. "Now I don't mean to offend either of you but it is quite strange that he picked you two considering what this job entails."

"I'm sorry, sir, what do you mean?" Hermione asked, a little worried.

"Well this job is going to take up a good amount of your time, I mean all of it." Hermione was secretly happy about this. She would have an excuse not to attend dinner parties that would only end in arguments anyway. Draco was also happy about this, because he spent his days either working, with Blaise, or reluctantly visiting his father in Azkaban. "I want you two to understand that this job is very dangerous, and because of this, you two will have yo be together at all times, for safety reasons."

"At all times?" Draco inquired. "Like live together?" At this Hermione's head had shot up, she hadn't thought about that.

"You do not have to go that far unless something happens that ensures you are not safe in a home by yourself. We are hoping that it will not come to that. "

"So what do you mean by all times?" This time it was Hermione's question.

"Well events, parties, work, pretty much everything but in your homes we would like you to be together."

"May i ask why?" Hermione asked and she could tell Draco approved of this question.

"Well Ms. Granger, women muggle and magical are reporting being raped which is a highly aggressive crime, and the numbers are increasing rapidly." This took them both by surprise.

"So you believe that if the person gets word of us investigating this, that they will try to hurt us?" Draco asked and Hermione's expression hardened.

"Well, to put it simply, yes. We want to insure your safety as much as we possibly can. And the only way for us to do that, is to asked you two to stay together as much as possible."

"Excuse me, but why don't you just ask us to stay with someone at all times? Why does it have to be each other?" Draco asked, with a smug look on his face. Kingsley was just about to answer but Hermione spoke first.

"Because you are not going to put others in harms way, especially when you can't explain to them why they are in danger. Plus, we are the only ones to know the information and therefore the only ones that can draw conclusions from what happens."

"Okay" was his answer. He knew she was right, he just didn't want to admit it.

"I know you two have a bad history, but i am hoping you are both mature enough to handle this. If you aren't tell me now and i will have Ben get someone else." Kingsley's words came out harsh, but they both knew it was only because the matter was so urgent.

"We will do it" they said in unison.


	3. The Sacrifice

After the decision was made, Kingsley explained exactly why they thought it was death eaters. He explained that all the victims reported that the man who raped them had a tattoo on his right forearm. Yet, not all the women described the same man, which is why they think its a group of death eaters, which is even much more dangerous.

After they got all the information from Kingsley, the two proceeded back to Hermione's office. After they both went on their lunch break, the regrouped and continued jotting notes about the case. They decided who to interview first and when.

"So what's your take on all of this Granger?" Draco asked after an awkward silence.

"Its tragic. Those poor women." Hermione's voice sounded a bit broken. Draco then realized another thing about Hermione, she was extremely compassionate. Her eyes welled with tears for people she didn't even know. He secretly wished he could have that type of caring within him.

"It's horrible." Even though he was trying to sound compassionate, his voice still came out cold and distant. He shook his head, something Hermione found strange. "But this whole being together all the time, you are okay with that?" His voice was almost a whisper.

"Well i agreed to it." Her voice was cold and harsh. Draco didn't answer, simply because he was trying to figure out how she could switch emotions so quickly.

'Maybe I'm the problem.' He thought. 'Maybe I'm the reason she can do that, maybe it's only to me.' He was lost in his thoughts, wondering what he ever did that actually hurt her.

Meanwhile, Hermione is thinking all the answers he wished to know. 'It's childish. I should be over this. He teased me my whole life!' She fought with herself. 'But you are not in school anymore. He makes me feel like I'm still in school! Maybe he's not the problem.' She was just about to continue fighting with herself when she saw the time. 5:00pm. She had almost forgot that she took lunch with everything else that happened today.

"Oh merlins beard." She sighed. Draco's head snapped up.

"What is it Granger?"

"I have plans at 7." Draco looked confused.

"Okay so go."

"No!" She yelled. "Either we go together or I don't go remember?" His eyes widened with sudden realization. "And you aren't going to want to come."

"Well it doesn't matter if I want to go." He answered and started to pack up his materials.

"What do you mean?"

"It's the rules. We have to go together. And im not selfish enough to make you cancel plans." Hermione couldn't help but show her shock. "What? Didn't think I was a decent human being?"

"Thats not what it is. But im going to Harry's house. And Ron is going to be there, along with Ginny and Lavender."

"Oh bloody hell!" He slammed his folder shut in frustration. He thought for a minute, with Hermione anxiously awaiting his answer. "I might be extremely uncomfortable but I'll go. It's the rules and I meant what I said about you not canceling."

"Thank you!" Although she might not have wanted to go in the first place, it meant a lot that he was willing to do this. Also, now she wouldn't be alone. "Wait"

"What?"

"We can't tell them about the case, so how are we going to explain going together?"

"We are dating?" Draco said much too quickly. Hermione laughed.

"Excuse me? Who in their right mind-" she stopped because she saw his facial expression. "I just mean, they won't believe it." Draco sighed.

"Then you make them. We can't reveal the case and I can tell you want to go to this thing." Hermione was touched by his understanding.

"Well if we are doing this, we have to make it look real. You are willing to act like a couple, like actually touch me and hold my hand and stuff?" Draco suddenly got really angry.

"Oh please Granger, don't treat yourself like some sort of disease you know you're not, and you never were." Hermione didn't question it, she could tell by the way he deflected eye contact that though he meant it, he didn't mean to say it. She smiled, taking the compliment and all it's implications.

"Okay then." She said awkwardly. "Well why don't you come with my back to my flat, I will floo them that i have date, and I will get dressed and then we will leave."

"Sounds good." Then they both walked towards the fireplace, Hermione went first saying 'Hermione's flat' and Draco followed her lead.

When they arrived, Hermione offered him a drink, which he took, and told him to make himself at him. She then preceded to floo Ginny, telling her to set the table for one more. After a billion questions that Hermione narrowly avoided, Hermione pulled her head out to face Draco sitting on her couch.

"Not telling them it's me?" Draco asked, cocking his head to the side slightly.

"Better they don't have a choice but to accept you." She said half jokingly. He smirked, but not maliciously. Then Hermione announced she was getting changed and that the drinks were in the fridge.

Draco sat on her couch contemplating what he was going to do in the presence of his old enemies. His mind drifted to thinking about how they were going to pull off convincing them that they were dating. He had never thought of her in that way before. Sure, after the war, when they went back to school he realized she was quite attractive but he never thought he'd even have a chance. Now he was sitting on her couch about to fake date her for her closest friends. He then started to contemplate the fact that she didn't find the idea repulsive in the least. 'What in the bloody hell does that even mean?' Before he could think about it more, she came out of her room, dressed in a halter top and jeans, which totally worked because it was the end of the summer.

"Okay you ready?"

"As ready as I will ever be."

They walked over the fire place, which was big enough for two and stepped in, holding his hand tightly, Hermione said "Potter residence" they got engulfed in green smoke. And then they were in Harry and Ginny's house, apparently late because they were all staring at them.

"DRACO MALFOY" they all screamed in unison.


	4. The Betrayal

"Draco Malfoy!" The all yelled in unison.

Before Hermione could even speak, there were slurs and insults being thrown all around. She looked around, reading everybody's facial expressions as they shouted. She noticed that Ginny was in mere shock, while Harry and Ron seemed to emit anger from themselves. She also noticed that Lavender seemed all but peachy about this situation. Her anger rose, and she clenched her fists. It was then that she realized that her and Draco were stilling holding hands.

Draco's head snapped to the side to look at her when she suddenly squeezed his hand. He looked at her briefly, before turning his head back around to try to figure out what was causing her anger. 'It can't be their reaction, she had to know this was going to happen." He thought, as he anxiously searched through his old enemies faces. His eyes landed on Lavender, whose arms were crossed and her lips were pulled into a forceful smile. He suddenly understood why Hermione had agreed for him to come. This was a couples event, and her distaste for Lavender was obvious enough. She wanted to not be alone, he knew what that felt like.

"ENOUGH" Hermione yelled suddenly. And the room went completely still. "Either you get over it and accept it or we leave." Draco was shocked by her choice, he expected her to at least try to explain it. Then again, she wouldn't be able to either way.

"We will accept it." Ginny said stepping forward and offering her hand to Draco. "Right boys?" After shaking his hand, she whipped around so fast, glaring at the two.

"Fine" they mumbled and both went to sit at the table.

Hermione and Draco followed suit, seating themselves across the table from Ron and Lavender, with Ginny and Harry at the heads. The boys were glaring at Draco, making him feel extremely unwelcome. Hermione glanced at him, to make sure he was okay and he responded by leaning towards her and whispering in her ear "I'm fine, don't worry." Although the sentence itself was normal, from an outside perspective, the gesture was extremely romantic. Ginny noticed the boys uncomfortableness and asked Hermione to help her in the kitchen.

"Hey" Hermione greeted while walking into the kitchen. "What can i help you with?"

"Some answers would be nice." Ginny stated shortly, turning to look at her best friend.

"Wha-"

"Stop it. I know you aren't dating him." Hermione was shocked.

"But ho-"

"Because you blush whenever he makes a simple gesture such as holding your hand. You like him, but you aren't dating him. So spill right now. " Hermione didn't know what to say. She couldn't possibly tell her the truth, but Ginny knew her so well.

"Listen Gin, all I can tell you is for the purposes of work people need to think we are dating."

"But you like him?" They started to hear voices rising, but thought nothing of it.

"No. He is a coworker. I enjoy his presence that is all. I don't even know enough about him to like him." She realized much too late that she came off defensive.

"You might not know everything about him, but that is what intrigues you Hermione Granger. You love to know everything, and it bothers you that you can't read him like one of your books." Ginny smirked, much like Draco's and turned to grab the pork.

"That couldn't be any more untr-"

BANG! *moan* "BLOODY HELL!"

Hermione and Ginny ran into the dinning room to find Draco lying on the floor, his nose bleeding and Harry and Ron standing above him. Hermione rushed to Draco, pushing the other two aside. Meanwhile, Ginny grabbed her fiancé by his collar and her brother by his ear.

"Draco." His silver eyes shot open to meet her dark brown. "What happened?" He sat up against the wall and she conjured a handkerchief and an ice pack.

"Massive headache." He mumbled, and Hermione hurried to apply the ice pack to his head. "They lost their tempers. No big deal, bound to happen." She then noticed that he winced as he sighed. She pulled up his shirt to find massive red spots, which would eventually turn into bruises.

"They beat you up!" She yelled, almost dropping the ice pack. "We are leaving." She helped Draco up and they stepped in the fireplace to go back to Hermione's flat. Right before they disappeared, they heard Ginny yell: HARRY JAMES POTTER AND RON BULIUS WEASLEY! YOU ARE DEAD!

They arrived at Hermione's flat and Draco collapsed on her couch. She quickly conquered some water and crackers from the kitchen and was about to offer it him when she realized he had fallen asleep.

She began to examen his wounds. His nose was still bleeding, his right eye was about to start bruising along with his ribs, and his lip was cut and swollen. 'Those arses! They team up and beat up my boyfriend!' 'Well fake boyfriend but still.' She realized that she knew a healing charm that would at least take the pain away, and so she cast it. She cast another spell to ensure his skull and brain were okay and then sighed. 'Well I guess I just have to wait.' She decided to go in the shower.

As she submersed herself in the hot water, she contemplated what happened today. She pondered whether she was ready for such a big case. She also wondered if Ginny was right about her feelings for Draco. Did she want to figure him out like a book's storyline? Or was there more to it? If there was one thing she knew for sure, she knew that she wanted to be friends with him. She also knew she was not going to talk to Harry or Ron anytime soon.

She came out of the shower, brushed her hair, got dressed in her pajamas and walked back out to the living room where she found Draco just awakening.

"How you feeling?" She asked, while going over to the fireplace, waving her wand in a strange motion and mumbling.

"Better than I thought I would." He almost smiled. "What did you just do to the floo network?"

"I blocked Harry or Ron from being able to floo here. They are not welcome right now." She waited for a response, but none came. "I casted a few healing spells but i think its better for it to heal a bit naturally."

"I agree." She smiled and sat down next to him on the couch. "Thanks Granger"

"Hermione" she answered putting her hand on top of his.

"Thanks Hermione" he corrected himself, while intertwining his fingers with hers.


	5. The Missing Memories

A few minutes passed with the two of them holding hands. Suddenly, Draco released her hand and tried to stand. Hermione shot up, noticing that he was not balancing well. She reached up and grabbed his elbow.

"I'm going home" he said, sounding a bit harsh.

"No you are not." At her response, he raised his eyebrow.

"And why not?"

"Because it is my fault that this happened and I am going to take care of you." Her smug look obviously annoyed him, because he rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but if I am going to stay here, can we at least work on the case?"

"Of course" Hermione went into her room, coming out with the file in hand. Draco had sat back down on the couch, and summoned his own copy. Hermione flopped down next to him, sitting much closer than she originally had planned. "Do you want something to eat first?"

"No, my mouth kind of hurts too much." She noticed that his voice had sounded a lot less guarded than earlier. She smiled to herself, wondering how much she could learn from him. She hated to admit it, but he had always been someone she wanted to learn about. Not because she liked him, but simply because she was extremely interested in how his mind worked. She watched him skim his files, noticing how his eyes softened at certain parts, and hardened again. She secretly wondered which parts he was reading that made him react like that. At that thought, she tore her eyes away from him and started reading.

Draco jotted down more notes and re-read the information once again. He had two sides of notes, one of the lists of people to interview, and one connecting all the facts of the attacks. He got distracted when he heard her sigh. He looked up, realizing that the sigh was unintentional. He couldn't get himself to stop studying her actions. He noticed that she bit her lip when she couldn't figure out something. He also noticed that she had a bad habit of tapping her pen. He smiled to himself when he realized that she was so easily absorbed in her work. She suddenly looked up, catching him staring at her.

"Like what you see?" She tried out her own smirk.

"Not really" he deterred his eyes and smiled to himself. 'Damn, I'm corrupting her already.'

"So I found something inconsistent within the reports."

"What's that?"

"In a lot of the reports, the women swear that they didn't see his face, but later they identify him later as Caucasian." Draco suddenly realized how important that fact was.

"Their memories were tampered with." Hermione nodded. "We need to go to each person and see if we can restore them."

"You really think a death eater would give us that option?" Draco suddenly realized that Hermione had her own interactions with death eaters.

"No but if they were dumb enough to leave a trail like this, maybe they aren't all that smart." Hermione jotted something down in a notebook as he spoke. "Plus, the death eaters that are not in Azkaban are not those who were closely involved, and or, those who were not in the higher ranks." Draco waited for a response, but when she was silent he tapped her on her shoulder.

"Oh sorry" she put the file on her lap, revealing her massive amount of notes. "I was just thinking of the things those poor women had been through." A tear ran down her face and Draco suddenly remembered that Hermione had once been on the really bad side of a death eater. As he pictured the scene he cringed. His aunt Bellatrix tortured Hermione in his own house, which was bad enough to live through the first time.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Hermione eyes were glued to his.

"I never stopped her….Bellatrix." His voice was soft and sincere. Hermione's eyes welled up with tears of happiness.

"Draco it's okay. I didn't expect you to." She put her hand on his, but he pulled away from her.

"That doesn't make it okay." He stood up. "She tortured you, I heard you…" he paused, running his hand through his platinum hair. "I heard you screaming, and I didn't help you. It was wrong and I'm sorry." Hermione stood up, taking a step towards him, which resulted in her having to look up at him.

"Do you not realize how much you did for me?" He shook his head. "Draco, when we were brought to your Manor, they asked you who we were. You lied. You told them you weren't sure, we both know that was a lie. You saved my life, along with theirs. You also switched sides at the end, helping us win."

"I still should have-"She put her hand hastily over his mouth and leaned towards him.

"Look at me, I'm still here and I'm fine." She started to remove her hand from his mouth, when he gently grabbed her arm, pulling her sleeve up, revealing the scar that spelled mudblood. She drew in a quick breath as he rubbed his finger against the scar. She saw in his eyes that what had happened to her had really upset him. She put her hand on his cheek, which snapped him out of his trance. He let go of her arm.

"I'm sorry, please just take the apology." She nodded and stepped back from him. "Can we go get something to eat?"

"I can make something." He rolled his eyes.

"No, you have done enough, let me pay for dinner." She nodded and went to go get her jacket. "Where do you want to go?" He yelled through her house. She appeared wearing a sweatshirt.

"Somewhere in Diagon Alley is fine." He nodded, offering her his arm. She took it willingly, smiling up at him. "Mind if we apparate?" She shook her head, and suddenly they were gone.

Hermione looked around, noticing that there were very few people around. She followed his lead, not asking any questions, surprisingly enough. They walked through Diagon Alley quickly and separately, she was following his quick movements. He finally stopped moving and she ran into his back, mumbling an apology. He just laughed, opened the door to the restaurant ushering her to go first. She smiled at him, walking through the door. They were seated right away, which surprised her because the place seemed to be packed. Right before they were about to sit down, they went flying into the wall.

The last thing Hermione remembered was seeing green spells being thrown, and then everything went black.


	6. The Revealing

Hermione was knocked out for about two minutes, drifting in and out of consciousness. When her eyes fluttered open, she saw Draco standing in front of her, battling multiple people at once. His stance was strong and protective. She quickly got to her feet battling alongside him. His head turned towards her, smiling slightly seeing how strong she was.

The people they were battling were not death eaters, but what looked like ministry workers. Draco scanned their faces, not recognizing any of them. He was finding it hard to believe that an attack would happen this quickly.

Hermione was having similar thoughts. She also couldn't recognize those in front of her.

Spells flew back and forth until finally Hermione caught one of the opponents off guard with a stupefy spell. At the sudden fall of his partner, the other took his eyes slightly off of Draco long enough for Draco to disarm him. The man Draco was dueling suddenly realized that they had lost and took hold of his partner and disaparated away. Draco turned to Hermione, just in time to see her stance waver. He quickly put his arm around her, keeping her steady.

"Who were they?" He asked her, escorting her to a chair. She realized then that the building was untouched other than where Draco and she sat.

"No idea. But they were definitely only coming for us." She nodded her head towards the rest of the restaurant. Draco sat down next to her, examining the room.

"But who would have known that we received this case?" He asked while running his fingers through his hair.

"I don't know, there could be a mole at the offi-"

"You're bleeding." He reached his hand to her face, wiping the blood from the cut on her forehead. He saw a shift take over her eyes as he touched her, he couldn't tell what it meant.

"I didn't even notice." She said suddenly "But I am a bit dizzy."

"Let's get you home." He stood up, offering her his hand, which she took automatically. "Are you able to apparate?" She started biting her lip, thinking hard. Draco noticed that he found this habit of hers quite amusing.

"Yes" At that, she took Draco's arm and they disapparated to Hermione's flat. The action took a lot more energy out of her than she originally thought it would. She stumbled a bit, until Draco caught her, and escorted her to the couch. "Thank you"

"No problem, Granger."

"Hermione"

"Old habits die hard." She smiled at him, and then he smirked as she fell asleep.

He sat in silence for five minutes, watching her sleep. Draco realized they didn't get food because of what happened, and therefore walked over to the kitchen while Hermione took a nap on her couch.

He used his wand to make chicken parmesan. He watched Hermione sleep as he made it, admiring the way she looked so peaceful. He realized just then that she had been through so much in her life, that a bleeding forehead was something she brushed off. He secretly admired her strength and how she could sleep after being through so much. He heard a light bang coming from the living room, not knowing what it was, he continued to cook. Hermione shifted her position on the couch, causing Draco to look up. 'Merlin she's so peaceful' he said to himself while shaking his head. 'Stop it right now! You cannot like her!' 'Why not?' 'Because she is Granger and a muggle-born' 'those aren't good enough reasons anymore.' After he finished fighting with himself, he checked on the food, only to find it was done. He set the table for two, and walked over to Hermione's sleeping body.

"Hermione" he whispered while shaking her shoulder lightly. "Dinner is ready." Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled at him. She sat up, stretching her arms and back. He walked over to the table and waited for her. After fully waking up, her eyes went wide at the gorgeous meal sitting in front of her. She walked over to the table, only to find Draco pulling out her chair. She blushed slightly and sat down, watching him sit down across from her.

"This was so nice of you Draco" He smiled and staring dividing the food onto both plates.

"How are you feeling?" His voice was so sincere; it almost took her by surprise?

"Better" she smiled slightly at him and began eating. "Who do you think attacked us?"

"I have no idea, but I've been hearing a bang coming from your living room." She didn't seem fazed by the statement.

"It's probably Ron trying to get through the Floo boundary that I blocked."

"Wait so he knows you blocked it?"

"Yeah why?" Draco put his fork down and looked her straight in the eyes. "You think Ron sent them?"

"Is it possible? I don't know him very well."

"Yes it is." She hung her head, and bit her lip.

Minutes passed, and they both finished their plates. Hermione cleaned off the dishes and walked over to the fire place. She mumbled a few incantations and Ron came rolling out of her fire place. Draco grabbed his wand, prepared for what could happen next. Ron looked frazzled, and almost desperate.

"'Mione! I broke up with Lavender!"

"Okay?"

"Isn't that why you're with Malfoy?" Draco knew that was a bad question. He also knew that it was obvious that Ron had not seen him yet, considering he was so focused on Hermione. Draco saw Hermione's back stiffen at the question.

"No Ronald, it's not. I like him." Draco's cheeks turned a bit red and in order to stop it, he coughed, drawing Ron's attention. He saw Ron's face turn bright red.

"HE'S HERE!" he bellowed. Draco moved behind Hermione, just in case she needed any help. He noticed too late that this seemed like a romantic gesture. "Get away from her!"

"Ronald enough!" Draco was surprised by how easily Ron took her patronizing tone, and he soon realized the reason she had broken it off with him.

"You have to be kidding me 'Mione. When you brought him to the house, I thought it was just to get back at me for dating Lavender. Why would ever chose him? He can't even protect you the way I can." That was the trigger Draco could tell that Hermione had picked up on the reference.

"Ronald Weasley, did you send those men to attack us?" Ron's eyes flew to her forehead.

"They weren't supposed to hurt YOU; they were just supposed to prove that he couldn't protect you." At that Hermione's anger got the best of her.

"GET OUT NOW" She took Ron by the arm and shoved him into the fireplace. He tried to fight her, but it seemed like he was really afraid of getting her angry. After he left, she put the wards back up and turned to Draco.

"I'm really tired thank you for dinner. See you tomorrow?" She reached up and hugged him. At first, he didn't know how to react, and then after a second passed he hugged her back. He fought the urge to ask her if she was okay and let her go, stepping into the fireplace to go home.


	7. The Epiphany

Draco woke up the next morning super early. He thought about Hermione and how strong she must be to get through what had happened. He noticed how her eyes never watered but her jaw tightened with every mention of Ron, not that there were many within their conversations. He wondered whether Ron had always been that crazy. He realized within that thought that he had never really paid much attention to the actual dynamic between the trio.

'That's kind of pathetic' he scolded himself. He had spent so much time ridiculing the three friends and making them miserable, but never once stopped to notice how often they fought. 'I was not as smart as I thought I was' he said suddenly realizing that if he really wanted to make them miserable he would have made the original fights worse. Then again, he never truly wanted to hurt them in any way, he was just jealous.

When he noticed his thought pattern going off track, he forced himself to sit up in bed. It was times like this where he thought working with Hermione was extremely hard. He never thought she would invade his thoughts like she has. Although the thought were innocent he often felt like they were something to be ashamed of. He couldn't help remembering the good part of the night before. If you could consider them good that is. After he got beat up and before they got attacked, the two were getting along quite well.

'That just sounds so sad' he mumbled. 'I better not say that out loud. Oh yea, after her best friends beat me up and before her best friend sent people to attack me, we were having a great time together! Pathetic, just pathetic.' He fought with himself while shaking his head. He suddenly realized that he had been thinking for way too long and it was time for him to get dressed and go to work.

He walked into his bathroom, which was located directly next to his room, it was quite a large bathroom, considering it was only for one person. Draco was constantly visiting his mother at the Malfoy Manor but he had purposely gotten his own small flat for the simple fact that he no longer felt at home in the manor. Although he would never try to convince anybody that he was a changed man, there were a lot of his past beliefs that just weren't so important after the war. One of those being the size of one's house or how much money they had.

Draco walked down his small hallway, stopping at the closet to grab his coat. He walked through the kitchen, living room and dining room passing the spare bedroom and walked out his front door. He walked about ten blocks to the telephone booth that led to the Ministry and headed into work. When he arrived he ran into Blaise who stopped him to chat.

"All right mate?...blimey what happened to you?" It was then that Draco remember that he didn't even looked in the mirror before he left.

"Potthead and Weaselbee"

"Bloody hell!?" Draco then began to explain how it all happened, including the attack at dinner.

"Well you look like that happened." Blaise said causing himself to laugh at his own joke. Draco glared at him and bid farewell as he needed to get to work on the case. He walked down the hall until he got to Hermione's office and stormed in saying

"Don't say anything about my face, just get me a mirror so I can see how bad it is." Hermione head snapped up from fright and her expression changed to worry very quickly. She pulled a small mirror out of her pocketbook and walked it over to him.

"Well, good morning to you too. Do you want coffee, I made you one." Draco was so absorbed in the mirror and how black his eye looked; along with how swollen his mouth was that he didn't answer. After a minute he put her mirror back on her desk and sat down in the chair across from her.

"Yes thank you." She handed him the to-go cup and he sipped it gratifyingly. "Three sugars and milk, how'd you know?"

"I didn't, just a guess that's how I have mine too." He fell silent, that was a bit strange but nothing to be worried about.

"Gran- Hermione."

"Yes?"

"We need to talk about yesterday." Her eyes met his and she sighed.

"Honestly, I meant what I said." She shuffled through the papers on her desk nervously. When he didn't respond she elaborated. "I like you, or at least, I like getting to know you." Draco couldn't help but feel a bit happy about this.

"Same here. It's been an interesting experience." He winced "But I meant we need to talk because I don't know how you are okay." He found himself getting uncomfortable, noticing that this was sounding more and more like a relationship.

"Like you care." She folded her arms and got up.

"Don't insult me like that Granger, if I didn't care you really think I would even be here?" His voice was hard but he couldn't help it. Just that morning he was admiring the good moments of yesterday and how they felt like such a good team, and now she just shut him out.

"I'm….sorry. I'm stressed and I really rather just focus on my work. Okay?" She moved her hand to cover his and he smiled, going on with another day of work.

About a week passed and still Hermione received no apology from anyone other than Ginny Draco's face was completely normal again which was good, but she was still upset about her friends. She was expecting at least Harry to come to his senses, but then again he never really had any when it came to Draco. Harry had this obsession that Draco was evil to the core, he always had. Hermione understood completely that Draco was not always the nicest person, and for years he tormented the three of them. She is also very aware that Draco had been especially mean to Harry from the moment they met. Although Harry never thought she did, Hermione truly did understand that. It was just the fact that she was able to see from both sides, not only just her friend's. The case wasn't going anywhere. The partnership actually seemed to be going pretty smoothly. There two of them tended to stay very late each night. One of the reasons was because they spent all day interviewing the women and trying to get their memories back. With more than half the work day gone, they would come back and go over every last detail. This is what they were doing right now, at about 8:00pm.

"Oblivate wasn't used to erase their memories!" Hermione said excitingly.

"How do you know that?"

"Because..." She drifted not knowing how to explain it. "Because I've used it and I would know how to reverse it, no matter how well done it was." She expected him to ask who she used it on but he didn't.

"Well than what was used?" Draco found it hard to look her in the eyes. As they were rebuilding after the war, rumors flew around about how Hermione Granger had took away her parents' memories. Many people were admiring her courage and dedication, but some feared she wouldn't be able to undo it. He didn't have to know her well to know that whether she did or not, would not be a good question to ask.

"I'm… not sure" she bit her lip.

They continued like this for about two hours. Draco searching spell books and Hermione rereading the interviews. It seemed like it took forever to even find one piece of evidence. Suddenly, Draco shut the book.

"We are looking in the wrong place." Hermione gave him a questioning look. "If these are former death eaters…" He put great emphasis on former. "They wouldn't have learned spells from these types of books."

"We need books on dark magic."

"Exactly, luckily my family still has a bunch in our library."

"Library! You have library in your house?" Her eyes twinkled with enthusiasm.

"Leave it to you to ask that question with admiration. Yes they do, it's not my house anymore but she won't mind if I use it." Hermione raised her eyebrow. "My dad is in Azkaban so it's just my mom there now."

"Why don't you still live there?" She saw how uncomfortable he had gotten. "You don't have to answer that."

"I don't want to leave my mother alone, but that house carries too many of my demons." Hermione smiled broadly at him, making him feel uncomfortable again. "Anyway, it's 10:00pm, I can bring some in tomorrow." He saw the look of disappointment on her face. "Unless you want to come by tomorrow and see it for yourself." Her face brightened.

"Can I please?" He nodded and chuckled at how much of a child she sounded like. He started to pack his things, she did as well. They gave each other parting hugs, and went their separate ways.

When Hermione got home she had suddenly realized what is was she just agreed to. 'How in merlin am I going to step foot in that house again?' The memories of her torment starting to run through her mind like a personal horror movie. She absentmindedly ran her fingers across the scar on her arm. She had done a pretty good job of keeping it hidden in public. Not because she was embarrassed, but because she didn't want pity. That being said, there was a reason she didn't use magic to remove it. She wanted to remember how strong she once was, it was a reminder that she could get through anything. 'Well I guess we will have to see how it goes.'


	8. The Confrontation

After work that night Draco stopped by the Malfoy Manor to let his mother know that Hermione was going to be attending the Manor the next day. Of course Narcissa started chin wagging about how beautiful of a girl she was. Narcissa was never as prejudice as she had seemed, but even Draco was surprised at her reaction. Of course Draco tried to tell her it wasn't like that but, he was also not allowed to say the reason so he was stuck with her believing her own conclusions.

After sitting through about a half hour of his mother telling him what a catch she was, he bid her goodnight and went back to his apartment. As he fell asleep that night it dawned on him that Hermione might have a hard time stepping back into the manor. He made the decision to arrive at her apartment early to ease her tension and then fell asleep.

The next morning Draco woke up at 6:00 sharp without an alarm, which was quite unusual for him. He wasn't sure how early Hermione woke up but he took a shower and got ready as quickly as possible and flooed over to her apartment by 6:30.

Hermione also woke up early, but her version of early was 5:30 sharp without an alarm. She took a shower and made coffee and got dressed. By the time Draco arrived, Hermione was making herself breakfast which is unusual only because she is normally not up early enough to have a real one.

"Hello" Hermione said as Draco stepped out of her fireplace. "I called Ben and told him that we were doing research and might not make it to the office today."

"Bloody hell Hermione, I didn't even think of that, thanks for saving my job." She smiled noticing that he too was more awake than usual.

"You want breakfast?"

"Sure"

"Good because I made too much anyway." He chuckled and the two sat done at Hermione's kitchen table. Hermione made him a cup of coffee and handed it to him without even thinking about it.

"Any news from Potthead and Weaslebee?" Hermione gave him a sharp look and he put his hands in the air in an innocent manner.

"Ginny isn't allowing Harry to sleep in the bed until he apologizes to you."

"Is she mad? It's not th-" He shut up noticing Hermione's sudden anger. "Good" he choked out and Hermione laughed.

"So is your mum okay with me coming by today?" Draco got a bit tense, not looking forward to this conversation.

"About that…."

"She thinks we are dating doesn't she?" Draco nodded solemnly. "It's fine really I kind of figured you couldn't tell her why. Is she okay with it?"

"Oh yea she is fine." He let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Actually she is smitten with the idea. Talking about how beautiful you are and how she's proud of me for getting such a catch." Hermione blushed and Draco didn't know what else to say. There was silence for a few minutes.

"We better get going." Hermione said, getting up and cleaning up the table. The two walked over to the fireplace and stepped in together, packing in tightly.

"Malfoy Manor" Draco shouted loudly and then the duo was covered in green smoke as they disappeared.

When they stepped out of the fireplace Hermione drew a long breath in. She recognized the black floors and walls and was fighting the flash backs from intruding in her mind. Draco could tell this was hard for her and tenderly put his arm around her waist. Hermione smiled up at him and let him lead her into the kitchen. Hermione's anxiety softened a bit when they were in the kitchen because she had never seen this part of the manor before. Draco started to pull his arm away from her waist when she grabbed his hand and kept it there. Before either of them could think about what just happened Draco's mother came into the kitchen.

"Ah there's my son and his beautiful…Hermione Granger, merlin have you grown." Hermione let Narcissa hug her even though it was quite awkward. It was then that Draco's arm released Hermione's waist. Narcissa released Hermione and hugged her son. "Would you like something to eat?"

"No thanks Mrs. Malfoy, we ate breakfast at my place before we came." Narcissa's eyes lit up and Draco sighed while Hermione just realized how bad that sounded.

"Okay dear, Draco dear show her around." Before Draco could object Narcissa realized her mistake. "Oh I am so sorry dear, it completely skipped my mind. Are you comfortable being here, I am so truly sorry for what occurred."

"Mrs. Malfoy I'm fine but thank you for the apology. I was actually telling Draco the other day I would love to see the supposed library; I'm a bit of a bookworm." Draco was impressed with how easily Hermione came up with that.

"Of course dear, I will leave you two to spend some time alone, so nice to meet you properly dear." Narcissa winked at Draco and walked out of the kitchen into what looked like a study.

"She is sweet" Hermione said as she turned towards Draco. He looked down upon her shaking his head.

"She's a handful, are you ready?" Hermione gulped and nodded. Draco started walking and then stopped, making Hermione bump into him. "We are going to have to walk through the place where-" Hermione stepped towards him, allowing him to really look down at her.

"Let's go" Draco nodded and resumed walking. Hermione followed him, in awe of how incredibly huge the place really was. As they walked into a way too familiar room, Hermione found it hard to breath. The memories she tried so hard to fight came swarming back and her eyes welled with tears. Draco realized a second later that she was no longer making impressed noises and came to her side. Hermione grabbed hold of his shirt as he put his arm around her waist once again.

"Hermione it's okay, I'm here." Hermione just could not snap out of the trance. Her head was swarming with emotions and her eyes were seeing her torture not what was actually happening around her. Draco started to get worried as he tried to look in her eyes which were staring blankly at the ceiling. He didn't know what to do so he hugged her, and as if he wasn't paying attention he kissed her on the top of her head. This snapped Hermione out of it.

"I'm sorry." Draco released her and looked at her worriedly. "I just… it was harder than I thought, I'm okay now." Draco stared at her, as if double checking if her face matched her words. After a second he nodded, letting her go completely and started walking up the stairs that led to the second floor of the manor.

He stopped in front of a black marble door about twelve feet high. The door reminded Hermione of an ancient style of door frames, she just knew this was the library. He opened the door and Hermione lost her breath. There were stacks upon stacks of books in dark auburn wood stacks. Some books looked ancient while others looked so new it was almost fake looking. Hermione started running her fingers along the spine of the books. The place was so huge that they had a round of tables in the center of all the stacks along with two couches a few feet away from the tables. Draco smiled as he watched Hermione admire the books and he made his way to put his work stuff on one of the middle tables. After about five minutes of Hermione in total awe, she finally came over to the table and sat down, and looked at Draco strangely.

"What?" He asked innocently, and Hermione looked directly into his eyes before saying

"You kissed me"


	9. The Conversation

'You kissed me'

Draco was hoping she would forget that little mishap. He wasn't sure what to say, or if she even really wanted an answer. He knew all too well that Hermione was not going to let this drop without a conversation. He knew this because if it were him, he wouldn't either.

"So?" He decided to go with an answer that wouldn't be too leading. He saw her get slightly frustrated at his vague answer.

"So dish it Malfoy. I mean you don't get to go around just kissing people for the merlin's sake"

"What are you getting so bonkers about? It's not like I kissed you on the lips."

"That would have been better!" everything went silent. Draco could not believe she just said that, nor did he know how to react to it. Moments passed and he saw Hermione getting even more uncomfortable. Even though he would have loved to make her this uncomfortable while they were in school, now it almost pained him to see her like that.

"Hermione" she stopped shuffling papers and looked up at him sheepishly. "Why would it have been better?" That's not what he was originally going to say, he was originally going to change the subject but now it was his turn to be embarrassed.

"…it just would have been easier to decipher is all"

"Decipher from what? It's not Morris code." He felt himself getting heated, but it was from insecurity not anger.

"You know what it's not important. I just think we have been faking being a couple for so long that we are starting to act like one."

"Maybe we should stop faking it then." Hermione's head snapped up, only to find Draco looking down pretending to scan his files.

"What do you mean?" He looked up slowly.

"If it is making you so miserable maybe we should stop."

"It's not making me miserable" She reached across the table and took his hand.

"You sure as hell look miserable to me Granger."

"It's not being with you all the time that is making me like this Malfoy."

"Then what is it?"

"It's everything!" She exclaimed while crossing her arms. "I don't understand the case, my friends are arses, and it's sad that this fake relationship with you is starting to feel real and I don't know what to do okay?!" Draco's jaw dropped in shock. So he wasn't the only one that felt that way about their fake relationship.

"We can't be together Hermione." He said it before he could stop himself.

"Don't you think I kn-"

"No I don't think you do." Hermione got enraged but Draco put his hand up, silencing her. "I don't think you get why."

"Oh yeah? Then tell me something I don't already know!" She yelled at him.

"Fine I will Granger. You think we can't be together because of prejudice, because of work, because of your friends, because of my friends, because of my family, because I used to be a death eater and because I hate you, isn't that right?" Draco's arms were flailing more than ever before.

"Yes" Hermione stated firmly, waiting for him to tell her some new reason. But what she got was a shock

"Those are all invalid reasons, and I'll tell you why. I am not prejudice, at least not in the way I used to be. I guess I never really was. I was a child, I didn't know any better than to listen to my father. As I got older, I was scared. Yes I admit it, I was scared. Voldemort was living in my house and although I didn't agree with him, my family's lives were at stake." There was a pause as he caught his breathe.

"Work is invalid because we both know nobody would care if we dated, seeing as there is no rule against it. Your friends are also an invalid point because they already think we are dating and you aren't talking to them. My friends are invalid because they love you, and by them I mean Blaise." Hermione chuckled a bit.

"My family is invalid because all I have left is my mother and obviously she is perfectly fine with the idea. The fact that I used to be a death eater is invalid because you do not look down upon me for it. And because I hate you is invalid because I obviously like you enough. In truth, I never truly hated you anyhow, I was jealous of what you were able to have that I wasn't. You had friends and you were happy and could make your own decisions. Therefore, all those are invalid."

"Then what is the reason?" Hermione's voice was soft, because she had just witnessed how much Draco truly trusted her.

"I don't deserve you Granger. I never have and I never will. It's one thing Weaslebee was right about." Hermione studied his features in the next couple seconds that passed. She was letting everything; all the truths and secrets he had just told her sink in.

"And what if I don't believe that?" Draco didn't even flinch at her statement, as if he was expecting it all along.

"Then you are a fool." Instead of Hermione getting mad at the insult she let the conversation end. One reason was because she wasn't even sure if she really wanted something with him in the first place.

The two sat in silence for the next hour, as Draco brought book after book over that contained any spells at all. They both wrote down some key information but neither had cracked the mystery quite yet. After about another hour and a half shuffling through the enormous amount of books when Hermione finally spoke about something other than work.

"I'm hungry"

"Oh, I'll go get mother."

"No, no it's fine." She waved him off and started walking towards the door. "I can go, I remember how to get there, and do you want something?"

"Sure, my mother knows what I like" Hermione nodded and walked out the library door. She walked down the massive hallway, turned left and walked down the even more massive stairs. She stopped slightly in the room where she was tortured and then continued walking until she was walking through the kitchen and towards the room where she saw Narcissa go in before. She knocked lightly and heard a faint 'come in'. She walked through the auburn door to find a massive sitting room where Narcissa was sitting on a green couch reading a book she couldn't make out.

"Hermione dear, do you need something? Where's Draco?" Narcissa spoke quickly as if she was worried most of the time. Hermione figured this was a side effect from the war.

"I'm sorry to bother you Mrs. Malfoy. We were just wondering if we might be able to have some lunch. Draco's still upstairs; I told him I could handle it. I just didn't want to go in your kitchen without permission." Hermione could tell she sounded weaker than usual but ignored it.

"Is it that late already? Now that you mention it I am quite hungry myself. Why don't we both make some food?" Hermione smiled and followed Narcissa out of the sitting room and into the kitchen. Narcissa started pulling out a bunch of random objects from the fridge. "What do you like dear? I make the same thing for Draco all the time, it's a family special."

"I'm not picky; can I try that family special?" Narcissa smiled widely nodding her head as she started to put all the ingredients together.

"Trouble in paradise?" At first Hermione was confused by the question, but then she remembered the fight and that Narcissa believed them to be in a relationship.

"You heard us didn't you?" Narcissa nodded. "It's really nothing"

"You are a horrible liar Ms. Granger." Hermione tensed "I know you two are not in a relationship I can tell." Hermione went to speak but she put her hand up, a lot like how Draco does. "It's a mother's instinct. But I also know Draco doesn't lie to me so I am sure that it is for a good reason." Narcissa paused as she focused on chopping the fruit. "I also know you two were in the library this entire time" again Hermione tried to interrupt only to be beat by her elder. "I could tell from where the yelling was coming from." Hermione tensed again "Don't worry dear I couldn't hear words, just loud talking." Narcissa stopped talking and continued cooking, Hermione took her chance.

"If you know then why didn't you say anything?"

"My son is a grown man he doesn't have to tell me his personal life. Plus I can tell when my son is in love, and trust me dear, you have him hooked." Hermione yet again failed to interrupt "Don't try to deny it dear, I can tell. It's another one of those instincts. So what were you two fighting about, Draco very rarely yells." Hermione wondered whether or not to tell her the truth. After contemplating, she figured Narcissa would be able to tell if she was lying anyway.

"Long story short, he thinks he doesn't deserve me."

"He tends to make his own conclusions without talking to the other party first." Hermione laughed, realizing how true the statement was. "You are good for him Ms. Granger, you make him feel. I don't know how you do it but you do. He came in this house yesterday with more emotions showing than I have ever seen on him before."

"That may be true Mrs. Malfoy, but he won't let me in to even discuss a potential." Hermione didn't know where this was coming from, but it just occurred to her that she did indeed like Draco Malfoy.

"He wears a thick mask my dear, for plenty of reasons. Whether you realize it or not, you have already broken down some layers of it. One thing I know about my son is that he needs to feel secure, if you can do that for him, I'm almost positive he will take off the mask for you." Narcissa spoke with such wisdom it was clear where Malfoy got his brains from. "Here you go Ms. Granger, two Malfoy specials" Hermione smiled and took the two from the kind lady in front of her.

"Thank you Mrs. Malfoy, for everything." Hermione went to walk away but then turned around. "Oh and you can call me Hermione." Narcissa smiled at her and Hermione walked away and back towards to the library. She knew what she had to do. His mother said he had to be secure, well then she needed to secure a few things on her end, a few people that is.


	10. The Realization

Hermione walked back in the library expecting to find the same solemn Draco that she left, but he seemed to smile at her when she walked in, which was new for today.

"Coming up, an order of a Malfoy special!" Hermione said lightly as she sat with the two sandwiches in hand. Malfoy took a bite of his and smiled broadly at Hermione. "What?"

"I found it!"

"What? Where? How?"

"Try your special." He said commandingly. Hermione tried it and made a satisfied noise. It was then that he explained it to her. "I found our other memory charm. You were right it is completely different than oblivate."

"Okay so how did you find it? And how does it work?" Hermione's thirst for knowledge was getting the better of her.

"So I found it in a biography about Voldemort. Okay I know that sounds like an odd place to look but" He paused to take another bite of his sandwich. "Potthead helped write that book, using the memories of Dumbledore that he saw in the pensive, along with the stories that Dumbledore had told him."

"Okay so?"

"So part of the text that Potthead recites about Voldemort beginnings is this" He pushed the book towards Hermione pointing at the middle paragraph.

"Then he returned to the Gaunt hovel, performed the complex bit of magic that would implant a false memory in his uncle's mind…" Hermione stopped reading and looked up at Draco whose eyes were sparkling with pride in.

"Yea so I read that, and then I retraced our steps and looked in a whole new section of the charms books, the deception section and found this" Again he pushed a book at Hermione pointing to the place where he wanted her to read. He waited for her to read it while he kept eating his sandwich.

"Type: charm, effect: implants a false memory in the victim. Incantation: mendacium, name: False Memory Charm" Hermione paused and before she knew what she was doing she kissed him. The moments after were a bit awkward but the two sat eating and then started chatting about what this meant.

"There seems to be no way to reverse it" Malfoy said once he finished writing down all this new information.

"Well if the memories were implanted, then subconsciously the victims could remember the act of it happening right?"

"Sure?" Draco was very confused, which made Hermione laugh a bit.

"We can try Legilimens"

"How would that work?"

"Because if you go deep enough into somebody's mind, you start to see things they don't even remember themselves." Draco's eyes lit up once again, and Hermione noticed that it made her happy to see them that way.

"Brilliant Hermione, just brilliant." Again he started to jot down notes, and so did Hermione. They both took a minute to write down all their thoughts and when Hermione was done she said.

"Well it is going to take a while to be able to reach that deep into their minds." Draco looked confused so they continued. "Even if they are not skilled in Occlumency, the mind itself will fight back, because there is a reason it is store away. We are going to have to perform the spell so much so that it will ease the mind into letting us in."

"Merlin, can we start that tomorrow?" Hermione laughed, causing Draco to laugh as well.

"Sure, but what do we do about the rest of today?" Draco shrugged and started packing his stuff up.

"We could stay here, or go our separate ways, take a half a day off for once." Hermione suddenly closed her files abruptly.

"I am going to go talk to Harry and Ron" Draco nodded, shocked that she was even considering it. "And you are coming with me." Draco tried to protest but she gave him a look and he silenced. "I know for all intents and purposes this relationship is fake, but to them it is not. And if it were real I would be doing the same thing because believe it or not if I decide to like you that means you do deserve me. Therefore, we are fixing things with the two of them today."

"Fine" Hermione was shocked at how easily he agreed, but then again what choice did he really have?

The two of them talked for a bit about their plans for the next day, put all the books back minus the two with the information, Hermione put those with her files. They both magicked their files back to their office and made their way down stairs to say goodbye to Narcissa. Without even thinking about it, Hermione intertwined her fingers with his as they were walking down the stairs, with no objection from him at all.

"Mother we are leaving" Draco called as they walked into the kitchen. After a second Narcissa walked in and hugged them both.

"Thank you for letting me come here and making me lunch Mrs. Malfoy, I hope to see you soon." Hermione gave Narcissa another hug while whispering in her ear 'we are about to go get that security'. Narcissa smiled widely and kissed her son on the cheek.

"Not a problem dear, I do hope Draco brings you back soon. Enjoy the rest of your day kids."

"Have a nice day mother"

"So nice to meet you Mrs. Malfoy!" Hermione yelled as the smoke from the floo powder started to trap them. "Potter residence!" Hermione yelled and they went swirling away.

Draco and Hermione stepped out of the fireplace at the Potter's house timidly. Harry, who was sitting at the kitchen table, looked up startled. He raised his wand, but before he could do anything Hermione disarmed him.

"Harry James Potter were you really about to use a spell on me?" Harry blushed. He had huge bags under his eyes. Hermione and Draco assumed this was from Ginny forcing him to sleep on the couch.

"'Mione I didn't know it was you, I didn't have my glasses on!" 'Ah he did look different' Malfoy said to himself.

"Fair enough." Harry acciod his glasses and looked at the two holding hands in front of him.

"I've been an arse Hermione"

"I know"

"I just… I just want what's best for you but it isn't right of me to assume I know what that is."

"That's true" Draco was wondering whether things always went this smoothly between the two, he reckoned it did.

"Forgive me" Hermione nodded towards Draco, and at the same time Ginny come out of the shadows behind Harry, watching the whole exchange. Harry stepped towards Draco and he tensed, for good reason, Hermione squeezed his hand. "I'm so- … sorry" Harry extended his hand to Draco who took it willingly. "I may not like you right now, but it was childish of me to act the way I did. I can't say I am happy about this but … Hermione's happiness comes before my own personal vendettas."

"Thank you. But I deserved what you gave me" Everybody in the room gasped. "I did. I was very nasty to you for years, whether or not we were children is not relevant. I hope we can start fresh, as we are both brand new people Potthead." Harry chuckled and nodded.

"Can do ferret."

"Well done boys" Ginny said coming out of the shadows and hugging Harry tightly. "Now what do we do about my brother?" Everyone fell silent.

"We force him into acceptance." Harry said "Hold on, I'll go get him." Harry kissed Ginny quickly and apparted away. Hermione couldn't help but stand a bit closer to Draco than usual. He put his arm around her, making her feel protected. Ginny gave them curious glances wondering if they knew that they loved each other. About two minutes later, Harry returned with Ron. Before Ron could even contemplate what he was seeing, Harry took his wand away and stood in between him and Draco.

"WHAT THE-"

"RON LISTEN TO ME" Ron shut up "I am not happy about this either, but would you rather accept him or lose Hermione?" Ron's face grew redder and redder.

"What's the third option?" If this wasn't such a serious moment, Draco might have laughed at that.

"There is none you doofus." Ginny said harshly. "You've already messed up big time and you are lucky she is even willing to speak to you."

"You know I'm sorry 'Mione" Hermione took a deep breath and nestled up to Draco a bit more.

"I am not the one who you need to apologize to" Ron's face turned red again and he was silent for about two minutes.

"I am not happy about this. But if it will make Hermione talk to me again, I'm sorry I beat the boogies out of you ferret." Hermione was outraged.

"THAT IS NOT-"

"Yes it is." Draco stated interrupting her. "You can't expect more than that. Years of hatred doesn't just disappear by force. The fact that he apologized at all is astonishing. I accept, and I hope one day you won't hate me so much." Draco offered his hand to Ron, and surprisingly Ron took it. It was more than he had hoped for, so Draco was satisfied.

Ginny had offered everyone to stay for dinner, but Ron had 'other plans' which was key for 'I don't want to eat with him'. Although they weren't friendly per say, Harry and Draco did have a few talks while they were waiting for dinner. During one of the silences, Draco found himself staring at Hermione chin wagging with Ginny.

"You love her don't you?"

"Yea I do." He answered before he could think. 'I guess this is what I'm left with, I love Hermione Granger.'


End file.
